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"How were the dead remembered in early medieval Britain? This study demonstrates how perceptions of the past and the dead, and hence social identities, were constructed through mortuary practices and commemoration in the period c. AD 400-1100. Drawing on archaeological evidence from across Britain, including the latest archaeological discoveries, Howard Williams presents a new interpretation of the significance of portable artefacts, the body, structures, monuments and landscapes in early medieval mortuary practices. He argues that materials and spaces were used in ritual performances that served as technologies of remembrance, practices that created shared social memories intended to link past, present and future. Through the deployment of material culture, early medieval societies were therefore selectively remembering and forgetting their ancestors and their history. Throwing new light on an important aspect of medieval society, this book is essential reading for all archaeologists and historians with an interest in the early medieval period."--Jacket.Read more...

Abstract:

An innovative application of theories of memory and material culture to an early historic society, this 2006 book uses the early medieval cemetery in Britain between 400-1100 AD as a rich and complex data set, addressing the commemorative functions of funerary ritual using archaeological remains as its evidence base.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

Review of the hardback: 'It is one of the great strengths of his book that it treats the whole of mainland Britain (and the isle of Man) on an even footing and over more than half a millennium bringing out this variation as well as some common themes and perhaps beliefs ... for 50 years prehistorians have, perhaps rightly, deplored the intellectual simplicity of the infant discipline of medieval archaeology. This is one of the books that will make them rethink that.' British Archaeology Review of the hardback: 'Howard William's book should launch a mature, careful and temperate debate ...' Journal of Medieval Archaeology Review of the hardback: '... nuanced and insightful ... thought-provoking ...' Archaeological Review from Cambridge Review of the hardback: 'Howard William's excellent book is thus greatly to be welcomed as the first extended survey of how the dead were remembered in early medieval Britain.' AntiquityRead more...

<http://www.worldcat.org/title/-/oclc/69484213#Review/-912600539> a
schema:Review ;schema:itemReviewed <http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69484213> ; # Death and memory in early medieval Britainschema:reviewBody ""How were the dead remembered in early medieval Britain? This study demonstrates how perceptions of the past and the dead, and hence social identities, were constructed through mortuary practices and commemoration in the period c. AD 400-1100. Drawing on archaeological evidence from across Britain, including the latest archaeological discoveries, Howard Williams presents a new interpretation of the significance of portable artefacts, the body, structures, monuments and landscapes in early medieval mortuary practices. He argues that materials and spaces were used in ritual performances that served as technologies of remembrance, practices that created shared social memories intended to link past, present and future. Through the deployment of material culture, early medieval societies were therefore selectively remembering and forgetting their ancestors and their history. Throwing new light on an important aspect of medieval society, this book is essential reading for all archaeologists and historians with an interest in the early medieval period."--Jacket." ; .